THE LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY
Kmmt Letter
OF NORTH AMERICA
NUMBER 46 WINTER 1994
Visitors to Harvard's Lovely Houghton Library
Enjoy LCSNA Meeting
by August Imholtz, Jr.
At Harvard things start early, or so we have been told. At
least the fall meeting of the LCSNA at Harvard University's
Houghton Library on November 20, 1 993 , did start early by our
standards. At 10:00 a.m. sharp the door to the Houghton
Library's meeting room opened to admit about 45 members
and guests. For those who do not know Harvard, the way to
think about the Houghton Library is to imagine something like
this: the main library at Harvard is the Harry Elkins Widener
Memorial Library (the Widener) and it is so large that were it
to be a space station it would be gigantic, and the Houghton is
like a small space craft attached to the Widener, though Geor-
gian brick space crafts are net yet so common, and furthermore,
a wooden elevated and enclosed walkway — more of a large
coal shaft really — does not quite fit the space-age comparison
I am trying to evoke. In any event, Dr. Roger Stoddard, director
of the Houghton Library, welcomed us warmly on a very chilly
morning. After briefly remarking on the history of the Houghton
Library (the building itself was made possible through a grant
from Arthur A. Houghton, who had done so much for Carroll
studies and had assisted our society greatly) which is now the
rare book and manuscript library of Harvard, Dr. Stoddard
hinted that a few of the Houghton's Lewis Carroll treasures had
been placed in the interstices among the
items in the current mathematical exhibi-
tion in conjunction with some interna-
tional mathematical conference proceed-
ings. The hiding of the books was well
done, in the Purloined Letter tradition,
and I do not think CLD would have found
his works completely out of place in a
mathematical exhibit. Dr. Stoddard also
reminded us of our last visit to Harvard's
Houghton in 1982, another fine occasion
to have visited this wonderful library.
Before introducing our first speaker,
our president, Charlie Lovett, thanked Dr.
Stoddard and Harvard for inviting us back.
He then summarized the proceedings at
the executive committee's meeting. In
addition to assuring the membership of
the financial stability of the society,
Charlie presented a major proposed revi-
Dr. Fran Abeles & friends took a break to plan a panel
discussion at this summer's International Carroll Conference.
sion of the by-laws affecting the society's governance (see
related article on page 7).
Our first speaker was Glen Downey, a doctoral fellow at the
University of Victoria, B.C., who delivered a well-researched
paper entitled "From Structural Resynthesis to Structural
Affirmation: An Examination of the 'Chess Problem' in Lewis
Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass." Beginning his presen-
tation with a modified, though perhaps historically accurate,
Sicilian defense (this will mean something to chess players),
Mr. Downey summarized the chess literature, the literatura
cassiana, and ordinary English critical literature on the function
of the chess game in TTLG. One of his main points, graspable
by even a tenth rate chess player like myself, was that the chess
players, i.e. the characters of TTLG in
their chess roles, operate on a logic of
their own oblivious of a guiding strategy.
He discussed the function of the charac-
ters as chess pieces and of chess pieces as
characters. The "game" is not between
white and red (for which read a mind
controlling white and a mind controlling
red), but rather a conflict between indi-
vidual pieces (individual chessmen-char-
acters). Alice's captures eliminate (at
least on the board) characters who are, or
certainly could be conceived to be, au-
thority figures. And yet Alice's moves
both foreshadow and propel her to the
authority figure she will become — Queen
Alice. It is hoped Mr. Downey will be
able to publish his paper with its chess
richness from Morphy to Botvinik on this
(continued on page 2)
Editorial—
By Charliel03@aolcom
Lewis Carroll was fascinated by
machines, inventions, and gadgets —
especially those which might somehow
be applied to his favorite pursuits such
as mathematics, writing, and art. As we
have heard before, and shall no doubt
hear again, he would certainly have
been fascinated with the modern per-
sonal computer. After all, many of
Carroll's publications were the nine-
teenth century precursors to desktop
publishing — his typewriter, electric pen,
and Hek-tograph serving in the place of
a Macintosh, Aldus PageMaker, and a
laser printer.
It is not surprising, then, that so
many of Carroll's followers are com-
puter enthusiasts. The board of the
LCSNA, for instance, includes several
members who make their livelihood
through various aspects of computers,
and many others who use computers on
a daily basis. Carrollians like comput-
ers — consider this point A.
Lewis Carroll was also a great writer
of letters, and he sometimes used his
"desktop publishing" outfit in creating
correspondence. His letter register, too,
was a precursor to the modern com-
puter, being, as Fran Abeles has pointed
out, an early form of relational data-
base. Consider this point B.
There has been much said recently,
by Vice-President Al Gore and others,
about the information superhighway —
an electronic link that will bring people
across the nation and around the world
in touch with each other and give them
access to a vast network of information
and services . Thi s high way i s not merely
a futuristic figment of our imaginations,
though. It is already here and is devel-
oping each day in the form of the Internet.
The Internet is a network of computer
on-line services and databases which is
accessible in a number of ways. Most
large corporations, government offices,
and colleges and universities have ac-
cess to the Internet. Individuals may
access the Internet through a variety of
on-line services such as American
Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe. One
thing which is available to anyone with
access (no matter how limited) to the
Internet is the ability to send electronic
mail (e-mail) to other users. Consider
this point C.
It shouldn't be too difficult for you
to tell where I am going with all this.
Lewis Carroll would have loved e-mail.
Dozens of Carrollians (maybe many
more) have access to the Internet al-
ready. In the past few months there has
been a steady stream of Carroll related
correspondence passing through the fi-
ber optic cables and telephone lines of
this nation. Just today I sent a lengthy
memo to most of the members of the
International Conference Committee via
e-mail.
The problem is this — many of us do
not know who is online and what their
addresses are. In order to bring
Carrollians closer together using tech-
nology that Dodgson himself would
have found fascinating, I am asking all
members of the LCSNA who have an
Internet address to send it to me, either
via "slow mail" or to my Internet ad-
dress — Charliel03@aol.com. I will
publish the list of addresses I receive in
the next KL. This Internet address may
also be used for any other editorial
correspondence or submissions to the
KL.
I should say here and now that I am
not one of those who believes that com-
puters will make all forms of the printed
word obsolete, nor do I think Mr.
Dodgson would take any delight in such
a notion (though his works have been
published electronically). I believe there
will always be a place for books, that the
Knight Letter will always be useful in
this printed format (though it may be
augmented electronically in the future)
and, while we are on the subject, that the
marvelous and friendly meetings of the
LCSNA could never be replaced by
online conferencing. Still, communi-
cation on the Internet is a wonderful
way for those who are unable to attend
meetings to participate in the Society
and for the rest of us to stay in touch
between meetings. I'm sure Mr.
Dodgson would approve.
MEETING (continued from page 1)
remarkable game.
[Editor 's note: Our second lecture,
on Carroll's mathematics, was deliv-
ered by Dr. Francine Abeles. A precis
of that talk will appear in the next issue
of the Knight Letter. Dr. Abeles ' book,
The Mathematical Pamphlets of Lewis
Carroll, the second in the LC Pam-
phlets Series and a work which will
provide the first thorough analysis of
Carroll 's mathematical works, will be
published by the Society this June}
With her usual abundant wit and
charm, Rosella Howe brought us back
to one of the main reasons why we were
meeting at Harvard University: "The
Harcourt Amory Collection at the
Houghton Library: Its History and
Content." Relying on her own research
at the Houghton and on the splendid
catalog of the Harcourt Amory collec-
tion compiled by Flora V. Livingston (a
Harvard librarian of singular gifts) and
published privately in 1932 in an edi-
tion of 65 copies, Ms. Howe gave us a
broad overview of the range of Carroll
materials in Harcourt Amory's superb
collection — many dating back to the
early auctions of Lewis Carroll's pos-
sessions — and, more importantly, a
sense of what animated a great collector
like Harcourt Amory. The story of the
toy theatre figures he carved for a
children's theatre is a gem worth re-
cording not simply because it was the
stimulus for his collecting, but rather as
a testimony to something deeper in
Carroll's episodic chapters that would
in so many ways ensure their survival.
Ms. Howe did not say this, but I suspect
she would wish, as we all would, to see
Harcourt Amory's figures on display at
Harvard — after all, thanks to Rosella
Howe a few of us have heard about
them; many us would like to see them,
the Harvard community, too, I am sure.
After the general meeting at the
Houghton Library, we adjourned to the
nearby Harvard Inn for a pleasant lunch
and further conversation. Thanks are
due to all our speakers, the Houghton
Library, and program coordinator Janet
Jurist for making this crisp fall day in
Boston one to remember.
0%
8c
New Book Captures the
Fun of Carroll
Christina Bjork's new book The Other Alice The Story of
Alice Liddell and Alice in Wonderland ($ 1 8 at most bookstores)
is a delight! The book was recently published in Sweden and
the United States by R & S Books, and a British edition is due
out soon. No doubt all will be popular sellers. Christina Bjork
is probably known best to American readers as the creator of the
Linnea books, including the bestselling Linnea in Monet's
Garden, but she is also a lifelong fan of Lewis Carroll.
Those who attended the 1989 International Conference in
Oxford will remember Christina and the charm which she
brought to that affair. What they may not know is that the
conference inspired her to create this book. How appropriate,
then, that it is published just prior to this summer's Second
International Lewis Carroll Conference, at which she will be a
featured speaker.
This book, which is written for a young audience but can
certainly be enjoyed by adults as well, does much more than
relate the story of Alice and Lewis Carroll and the trip down the
river. By presenting a variety of episodes from the lives of
Carroll, Oxford, and Alice, along with games and puzzles
invented by Carroll, photographs taken by Carroll, and a tour of
exciting places in Oxford, Bjork gives the reader a real sense of
what it was like to be a child friend of Carroll, and also what it
was like to live in Oxford during the Victorian period.
The book is divided into over thirty short chapters, each
presenting some tidbit of life in Oxford or of Carroll's imagi-
nation. Chapter titles ranging from "Mr. Dodgson makes a
Handkerchief Rabbit," to "An Adventure in the Botanic Gar-
den," to "Antipodes Croquet and a Little Green Door," give the
reader an idea of the variety of material presented here.
Bjork states unequivocally in her introduction that, since
we cannot know everything that happened, that her text is a
"mischmasch of what we know happened, what probably
happened, and what could have happened." This means that
this book by no means replaces a factual biography of Alice or
Carroll, however it does more to capture the spirit of their
relationship than many such factual books, and it presents that
relationship in a format which virtually any reader would enjoy.
Especially important to the success of this book are the
marvelous illustrations by Bjork's collaborator on the Linnea
books, Inga-Karin Eriksson. The book is heavily illustrated in
both color and black and white, from its "map of Oxford"
endpapers to the lovely color pictures to charming marginal
drawings (such as a cat who points out that the chapter concern-
ing "42" begins on page . . . I'll let you guess). Eriksson is the
first illustrator who has, to my mind, captured the essence of
Lewis Carroll in her pictures of him. Her research shows in the
wonderful recreations of Oxford settings, and the variety of
pictures, from an Alice paper doll set
to a map showing the location of the
island of Mauritius where Dodos
once lived, is remarkable and stun-
ning. The design of the book, the
integration of text and artwork, and the quality of the produc-
tion are unrivalled by any other book about either Carroll or
Alice.
The book also includes a few photographs of Oxford as it is
now, some taken during the 1989 Conference, as well as a
useful appendix which includes such information as the ad-
dress of the LCSNA (for which publicity we owe the author
many thanks) and other useful tidbits. Not only will Carroll
collectors and enthusiasts want to add this book to their shelves,
it will also make a great gift to those who are unfamiliar with
the story of Carroll and Oxford. Nowhere else will you find
such a wealth of interesting information so charmingly pre-
sented. Though it will not replace a factual biography (nor does
it claim to do so) this book will go a long way towards
explaining the appeal of Carroll to those unfamiliar with him.
New German Alice
by Joel Birenbaum
Album for Alice, illustrated by Albert Schindhutte and
published recently in Hamburg by Hoffmann und Campe, is a
hodgepodge of Carrolliana. The book contains Schindhutte' s
renditions after photographs of Victorian children, most of
which were taken by Carroll. These pen and ink drawings are
sometimes caricatures of the originals. The famous photo of
Beatrice Hatch reclining in the nude is even more grotesque
here as the artist draws her head more out of proportion than it
appears in the original painted photo. Schindhutte seems to let
the feeling he got from the photo be the driving force for his
representation.
Also included here is the Antonie Zimmermann translation
of Alice with drawings after illustrations by Tenniel, Carroll,
and W.H. Walker. Schindhutte' s style is that of thecalligrapher
and indeed each chapter is preceded by a full page illustration
sometimes overrun with the calligraphic title. This is an inter-
esting effect, but can be almost unreadable. This calligraphic
style is applied to Schindhutte' s ink drawings by using lines of
varying thickness. The only other stylistic tool used is a light
wash to enhance the line drawings.
In his illustrations of Alice, Schindhutte again replicates the
feeling of the original. The drawings of tall Alice and small
Alice are very awkward, but then these were awkward times for
Alice. He captures the magic of the Cheshire Cat, but does little
with the caterpillar. His clever drawing of Alice swimming in
the pool of tears with the mouse shows her with the face of a cat.
All in all Schindhutte' s Alice is for those who prefer thought
provoking illustrations to beautiful ones.
Special Supplement:
Translations of Alice
I once attended a lecture by an Englishwoman
touring American schools proclaiming the joys of
Beatrix Potter. She opened her presentation by
stating matter-of-factly that Peter Rabbit was the most
popular children's book in the history of the world.
The only evidence she offered to support this claim
was the fact that it had been translated, according to
her, into sixteen languages. Needless to say, I
squirmed in my seat at the thought of the fifty or so
foreign languages represented in my own collection
of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Loo king-Glass.
I say "fifty or so," but
the great question I am
constantly met with is
"how many is 'or so'?" On
a recent trip to Japan, the
fact that I was able to buy
sixty (or so) in-print edi-
tions of the Alice books
led to a discussion with
Japanese Carrollian
Yoshiyuki Momma (who
promised to address the
1994 Conference on the
subject of why Alice is so
popular in Japan) about
the proliferation of trans-
lations and the question
was raised again. Just how
many languages has Alice
been translated into? I
promised Yoshi I would
try to settle the matter
once and for all (or at least
until the next issue of the
Knight Letter) so hear I go.
Before we begin our
count, we must define our
terms, the most important
of these being "foreign language." What, for the
purposes of this count, should constitute a foreign
language? Since I am writing this article, I get to make
up the rules, and although in my earlier book, Lewis
Carroll's Alice, I included such editions as Braille and
Shorthand in the count of translations, I am inclined
to be more strict here. Perhaps this is a revolt against
the extremes to which John Paull, Carol Zammit, and
the nowdefunct Australian Carroll Foundation pushed
Alice Has Been Published In:
Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian,
Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese,
Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Espe-
ranto, Estonian, Faroese, Farsi, Finnish,
French, Frisian, Gaelic (sometimes listed
as Irish), Galician, Georgian, German,
Greek, Hebrew, Hindu, Hungarian, Ice-
landic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese,
Kanarese, Korean, Latin, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malayalam,
Marathi, Moldavian, Norwegian, Oriya,
Philipino, Pintjantjatjara, Polish, Portu-
guese, Rumanian, Russian, Serbian, Sin-
halese, Slovenian, Slovak, Spanish,
Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish,
Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh.
And Maybe In
Azerbaijanian (1974), Gujarati (1990), Kazakh
(1989), Nepali (1992), Tadjik (1984), Uigur(1983).
the definition in their beautifully produced Alice 125
catalogue. That listing included such things as
Barcode, Morsecode, and Pig Latin in order to achieve
the goal of displaying 125 different translations of
Alice.
To me, a foreign language is distinct from other
languages, is not a coded form of any other language,
and has a speaking and publishing history of some
sort. The most important of these restriction is the
second, as it eliminates those coded forms of English
mentioned above, and other similar types of editions
sometimes listed as
translations. In compil-
ing my list of languages,
I will return to this defi-
nition whenever there
is some doubt as to the
validity of including a
language. Esperanto,
for example, would
qualify, in spite of being
an artificial language. It
is, nonetheless, a dis-
tinct language, and its
history of being pub-
lished and spoken was
well documented at a
recent LCSNA meeting
by Alice translator Dr.
William Orr. Flemish,
on the other hand,
would not qualify, since
it is not linguistically dis-
tinct from Dutch, in
spite of being differ-
ently named by its re-
gional speakers.
The one difficulty
that this definition does
not address is the question of dialects. Fortunately,
there is not much history of Alice's being published in
dialects and those into which it has been published,
notably Galician and Catalan, have a significant
enough publishing and speaking history that I have
chosen to include them. Some would even argue that
these are not dialects of Spanish, but truly separate
languages. I have also chosen to list Serbian and
Croatian as separate languages. Though they are
nearly identical linguistically, they use different al-
phabets, and that's good enough for me. I should add
at this point that in determining which languages
were legitimate (and in working with foreign lan-
guages in general), I am deeply indebted to Kenneth
Katzner's The Languages of the 'Work '(Routledge, 1986),
an essential reference for anyone interested in trans-
lations of any work-
Having defined what constitutes a foreign lan-
guage, we must now define what constitutes an edi-
tion of Alice. I offer the following definition: a
published edition of a work telling or purporting to
tell the story of Lewis Carroll's book{s) Alice's Adven-
tures in Wonderland and/or Through the Looking-Glass
and What Alice Found
There. There are several
key points here. First of
all, the work must be pub-
lished. This eliminates a
large number of lan-
guages from the Austra-
lian Alice 125 list, as many
were represented by un-
published manuscripts.
Secondly, the work must
at least purport to tell the
story, rather than merely
offering an excerpt from
it. The story has often
been told in just a few
sentences or in comic
book form, and such edi-
tions would qualify for
this list. A translation of a
single poem or episode
would not qualify. It
might be noted here that
research has revealed that
many of the manuscript
translations in the Alice
125 catalogue were actu-
ally translations of only a
few pages of the book.
So, how many foreign languages has Alice been
published in, using the above definitions? Most of
the detective work has been done by others, so it only
remains for me to peruse their lists, judge, and com-
bine. In addition to my own collection, I made
extensive use of Joel Birenbaum's Alice database
listings and of the Alice Foundation's Alice 125 cata-
logue. Joel has compiled information from Warren
Weaver's Alice in Many Tongues, Edward Guiliano's
Lewis Carroll An Annotated International Bibliography
1960-1977, and Robert Taylor's Lewis Carroll atTexas.
For those of you who may be following along in the
Alice 125 catalogue and note my omission of Bangla, I
should point out that this book is merely a Bengali
edition published in Bangladesh. It is quite possible
that similar errors led to the inclusion of non-lan-
guages from the Alice 125 catalogue in my secondary
lists, but as they are more for fun than for a serious
record I admit to being less concerned about their
accuracy than that of the primary list.
I have divided the primary list into two parts —
those which I am certain of, having either examined
copies or found them
listed in trustworthy
And Then And Then There Is . . .
"Languages" in which Alice (or parts) have been
published but which don't qualify: Braille, Cipher,
Flemish, Gregg Shorthand, Mock German,
Pitman's Shorthand, Shaw Alphabet.
Languages into which Alice (or parts) have been
translated, but not published (including manu-
scripts listed in Alice 125): Akuapem-Twi, Angami,
Aramaic, Assami, Assanti-Twi, Banjarese,
Byellorussian, Cebuano, Cook Island Maori, Cor-
nish, Cree, Dominican Creole, Ewe, Fanti, Fijian,
Ga, Hmong, Ilocano, Jamaican Patios, Javanese,
Kadazan, Khmer, Khul-Lha-Khan, Lao, Lhoke,
Lombok, Lotha, Luganda, Luxembourgish, Malt-
ese, Manado Malay, Pidgin, Pitcairnese, Piatt
Deutch, Punjabi, Pushtu, Scottish Gaelic, Samoan,
Scouse, Sema, Sicilian, Solomon Pinjin, Strine,
Sussex, Telugu, Tetum, Tongan, Umbundu,
Wangkatha, Xhosa, Yiddish.
"Languages" which don't qualify into which Alice
(or parts) has been translated but not published
(including Alice 125 items): Australian Sign Lan-
guage, Australian Colloquial, Barcode, Binary/
ASCII, Hex, Interlingua, Morsecode, Nelly Bow-
man, Pig Latin, Pitmanscript, Uni.
sources, and those which
may or may not exist.
Needless to say, I invite
enlightenment on the
second part of the list and
on any omissions. I also
include, for fun, three
lists of those which didn't
make the grade — those
that aren't real languages,
those that aren't real pub-
lications, and those that
are neither.
Depending on the
rules you make up, you
might claim that Alice has
been translated into as
many as 137 languages.
All I'm willing to concede
to is 62.
Does that make Alice
the most translated child-
ren's book in the history
of literature? That is a
difficult claim to prove,
since it relies more on the
absence of negative evi-
dence than the presence of positive. Who cares if it
is a difficult claim to substantiate, though. I'm pre-
pared to make it right here. I'll even go so far as to say
that, during the twentieth century, Alice has been the
most widely published, most highly translated, and,
yes, even the most popular children's book in the
world. So, come on all you Peter Rabbit fans — let me
have it!
1 994 International Conference —
Rooms Filling, Day Rates Available
Places at the 1994 International Lewis Carroll Conference
are filling up, but there is still time to reserve your spot. The
deadline for registration for the full conference package is
March 1. In addition to the full conference package, detailed
below, there are a limited number of spaces available for day
attendees. The cost for these spaces is $75 per day, including
meals. Please contact Joel Birenbaum at the conference regis-
tration office (address on registration form) for more informa-
tion regarding these spaces.
The conference will be held at the Graylyn Conference
Center in Winston-Salem, NC. The elegant stone manor house
will be the sight of conference events, including gourmet
meals, films, and other entertainment.
Conference delegates will be housed in the manor home and
in nearby guest houses. All rooms include private baths. A
limited number of special "antique rooms" are available for an
additional $50 per night (or $75 per night for couples).
The Conference will begin on Thursday afternoon, June 9,
1994, and end on Sunday morning, June 12. The fee of $500
includes meals and snacks, room, programs, use of facilities,
and a 24 hour self serve ice cream bar.
Already scheduled to speak at the conference are the
following: Edward Wakeling will speak on Alice Hargreaves'
1932 trip to America, drawing on her personal archive of
materials at Christ Church; Selwyn Goodacre will speak on
American Alices; Yoshiyuki Momma will attempt to explain
the tremendous popularity of Alice in Japan; Elizabeth Sewell,
author of The Field of Nonsense, will speak about her own
personal journey with Carroll; Stan Marx will discuss the
history of the LCSNA; Joel Birenbaum will demonstrate his
Alice database; a panel led by Fran Abeles will discuss Carroll's
work in the context of modern computer technology and Fran
will also speak on Carroll as mathematician; Don Rackin will
present an important new work of Alice criticism; Anne Clark
Amor will speak on Carroll's Russian journey, putting it in its
sociological context; Christina Bjork will speak on her recently
published book about Carroll and Alice; and Prof. Julie
Grossman will discuss Carroll's photography and its relation-
ship to his other works. It is hoped than Nina Demurova will
travel from Russia to give a slide lecture on Carroll's Russian
journey and other speakers and entertainers are also in the
works. The LCSNA has also sent letters to many universities
inviting papers, and several such papers are under consider-
ation for inclusion. The program will be diverse, exciting, and
will present familiar names as well as new faces and ideas.
As with the conference held in Oxford in 1989, the highlight
of this gathering will be the chance to spend three days
communing with fellow Carrollians. The Conference repre-
sents a new step in the evolution of the LCSNA, now in its 20th
year, and you won't want to miss this exciting gathering.
DEADLINE : MARCH 1
Second International Lewis Carroll Conference
Registration Form
Please reserve
place(s) at the International Lewis Carroll Conference. I
understand that my registration fee is non-refundable and that the full price of the
conference is $500.
Please reserve an antique room for
people. I understand that an additional
charge of $150 for one person or $225 for two people will be added to the basic cost of
the conference for this room.
Name and Address:
Amount Enclosed ($100 per person).
Return to: Joel Birenbaum, Registration Coordinator, LC Conference, 2486 Brunswick Circle, Woodridge, IL, 60517
Carrollian
Notes
Changes in
Board Proposed
In a move designed to open the leader-
ship of the LCSNA to a much broader
base of its members, the executive board
voted at the November 20 meeting to
propose a change in the bylaws that
would alter the makeup of the board.
The board is currently made up of the
elected officers and the former presi-
dents, making it a somewhat closed
group and creating a situation in which
new board members can only enter that
body as officers. Under the proposed
change, the board makeup would be as
follows: 4 elected officers (President,
Vice-President, Secretary, and Trea-
surer), 4 elected directors, the previous
2 officeholders from each office (for
instance the previous two presidents),
and two directors appointed by the
president. In addition to this board of
directors, the Society would have a
board of advisors consisting of all pre-
vious office holders not on the board of
directors plus any other advisors ap-
pointed by the board of directors. The
two boards would meet simultaneously,
but only the board of directors would
be able to vote on matters affecting the
Society. Elections would still be held
every two years, and nominations for
all elected positions would be open to
the entire membership. The board be-
lieves that this new makeup will help
make the inner workings of the Society
open to all those who have an interest
in them and I personally encourage all
members of the Society to support this
change and to consider any names (in-
cluding your own) that you may wish
to place in nomination before the next
election. The proposed bylaw change
will be voted on at our next meeting
(the International Confer-
ence) and the next election
will be held at our Fall 1994
meeting. If you have any
questions or input about elec-
— — — — tions, bylaws, or the Society
in general, please do not hesi-
tate to contact me at the submissions
address on the back of this newsletter.
If you wish to place your own name or
the name of another Society member in
nomination for a position on the next
Board of Directors, please contact ei-
ther me or the chair of the nominating
committee, Janet Jurist.
Join the Auction
Bandwagon!
Vice President Alan Tannenbaum, the
coordinator of the auction to be held
during the International Conference,
reports that contributions to the auc-
tion have already begun coming in.
Those of you who have attended previ-
ous auctions will know that they have
provided the assembled Carrollians not
only with choice items for their collec-
tions, but also with great entertain-
ment. Alan is staying mum about the
identity of the auctioneer at the confer-
ence, saying only that we will be pleas-
antly surprised. An auction without
items to be sold, however, is like a day
without sunshine (night?), so now is
the time to go through your collection,
dig through the closet, empty out the
desk drawers, and find the perfect
books, posters, ephemera, artwork, and
anything else to contribute to our sale.
No only does your contribution help
support the activities of the Society,
but it also helps make this event fun
and exciting for those who attend and
for those who send in their bids by
mail. All contributions are also tax
deductible to the extent allowed by
law, so your accountant would want
you to donate some things, too. Added
to the exciting items we have already
received, your contribution will help
make this auction our biggest and most
fun yet. Please send all contributions
to Alan at 2431 NE 46th St., Light-
house Point, FL, 33064.
A New Game?
Rex Games' s (1-800-542-6375) new
offering "Word Trek" is a repackaging
of Carroll's game "Doublets." Though
Carroll is acknowledged as having "in-
spired" (I would have said "invented")
the game in the publicity materials, he
is not mentioned anywhere in the pack-
aging or instructions of the game itself.
The game has two decks of cards with
216 word puzzles and suggested solu-
tions. Price: $11.95
bibliographical variant of ^^^^^™"^ M """
Savile Clarke's play Alice in Wonderland, which was originally
published in 1 886. When I wrote my book, Alice on Stage, in 1988,
I tried to include a complete bibliography of Savile Clarke's play.
There was a problem, though. I had no trouble finding copies of the
1 886 first edition, the second edition (also dated 1 886 but published
in 1887), and the 1888 third edition. Subsequent editions included
only the songs, not the complete script. Some editions of the Lewis
Carroll Handbook, however, list an 1889 edition. The location
cited is the Parrish Collection, based on an entry to that effect in the
Parrish Catalogue, but no copy is in the Parrish Collection, and the
typed accession sheets on file at Princeton contain a typographical error in
the listing for this item that could be the root of the listing in the Parrish
Catalogue. All other references to an 1 889 edition are secondhand at best.
Has anyone actually seen an edition dated 1 889, or is this merely a phantom
edition that should be expunged from future listings? I'd really like to know !
irom Oar rar-fiouna,
The Holiday 1993 issue of Victorian
Homes Magazine included a color illus-
trated article titled "Three Dimensional
Scenes from a Children's Classic," which
detailed scenes from the Alice books
which were recreated in the historic Wil-
son-Warner House in Odessa, DE. The
house is owned by the Winterthur Mu-
seum and the scenes were part of their
Christmas 1992 celebration.
The Xavier Press (P.O. Box 66052, Bal-
timore, MD, 2 1 239) has published a min-
iature edition of Carroll's Wise Words
About Letter Writing. The book mea-
sures 2 1/2" x 1 7/8". A frontispiece, two
mint 1980 US stamps, and a pullout of a
reduced facsimile of a Carroll letter are
tipped in. Members report that the book
is finely printed and a bargain at only
$18. The book is limited to 160 copies.
Speaking of e-mail, Earl Abbe found a
parody of "Jabberwocky" titled "The
Mentor's Lament" making the rounds of
the underground office mail on his e-
mail network. Keep your eye out for it!
Charles. M. Schulz's Cheshire Beagle
made another appearance (in color) in
major newspapers on Sunday July 1 1 ,
1993.
British Style magazine (v. VI #2, 1993)
has five color pages about Alice and
Wonderland, and notes the availability
of many new Alician collectibles — tea
cosies, drawer chests, clocks, tin boxes,
etc. For more information write to Cot-
tage Industry from Britain, No. 1 The
Green, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8
IAN or FAX 0672 5961 10.
Correspondents
The new edition of The Hunting of the
Snark with illustrations printed from the
original woodblocks is available in the
United States through Joshua Heller Rare
Books, P.O. Box 39114, Washington,
DC, 20016. Despite the high quality of
this edition there is a general perception
among collectors that the publisher' s high
prices (as much as $1000 for the deluxe
version) are a bit much.
The conversation of Alice and the White
Queen concerning impossible things be-
fore breakfast appears at the head of a
pamphlet called Islam Through the Look-
ing-Glass by J.B. Kelly (published by
the Heritage Foundation, 1980). The
same conversation appears at the head of
chapter 3 of Alan Morehead's The Blue
Nile (Harper & Row, 1962). The second
edition (1972) leaves it out!
A new magazine for children, Spider,
featured Leah Palmer Preiss's illustra-
tion of the Mad Tea Party on the back of
its premiere issue. The second issue fea-
tured poetry by Carrollian Myra Cohn
Livingston.
Meg Davis has written and recorded an
album of music entitled "The Music of
Wonderland." The songs are based on
Carroll's works. Available on cassette
for $13.00 postpaid from P.O. Box 233,
Lake Leelanau, MI, 49653-0233.
Pat Carroll directed a production of Alice
in Wonderland at the Kennedy Center in
Washington, during Christmas.
The sixth grade of The Keys School of
Palo Alto, CA, presented a stage version
of Alice in Wonderland as part of their
Holiday Program this past December.
Sandor Burstein reports that his grand-
daughter Sasha Gersten (see KL #3 1 for
an earlier photo) played the role of the
Mad Hatter.
Hammacher Schlemmer (1-800-543-
3366) offers an Alice in Wonderland Tea
Party Set. This consists of a wooden
table and four chairs handpainted and
signed. The table is always set for tea and
the chairs represent Alice, the Dormouse,
the March Hare, and the Hatter. Order
#14569W. Only $999 plus $14.95 ship-
ping and handling.
The Video Catalog (1-800-733-2232)
offers a 27 minute VHS tape of the Prague
Chamber Ballet performing A //ce in Won-
derland in a "bewitching fantasy of dance,
mime, and theatre." Order #29 1 04. Price:
$19.95+$3 shipping.
And speaking of ballet — the Bravo Chan-
nel recently aired the National Ballet of
Canada's Alice in Wonderland ballet
which was performed to the music of
David del Tredici. Appropriately, the
performance was taped at the Macmillan
Theatre.
Christopher Plummer performed a solo
show called A Word or Two, Before You
Go in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, in Octo-
ber. He opened and closed with Through
the Looking-Glass which, according to a
critic, "was surprising and charming and
kept ... the audience happily off guard
for the entire 90 minutes."
For assistance in preparing this issue we would like to thank: Earl Abbe, Joel Birenbaum, Sandor Burstein, Meg Davis, Johanna
Hurwitz, August Imholtz, Stephanie Lovett, Lucille Posner, Rex Games, David and Maxine Shaefer, and Alan Tannenbaum.
Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. It is published quarterly and is distributed
free to all members. Subscriptions, business correspondence, and inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, LCSNA, 617
Rockford Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20902. Annual membership dues are $20 (regular) & $50 (sustaining). Submissions and
editorial correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Charles C. Lovett, 10714 W. 128th Ct., Overland Park, KS, 66213 or via e-
mail at Charliel03@aol.com.
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